Stephen Hubbard Detention: Ukrainians Detail Treatment in Russian Jails

Two Ukrainian men held in Russian prisons alongside Stephen Hubbard say they witnessed guards strike, shock and deny medical treatment to the 74-year-old American during his detention, which lasted more than four years. The accounts, provided to the BBC, align with statements from Hubbard's family that he was tortured while in custody.

Dmytro Khyliuk, a journalist, met Hubbard in September 2022 at the Novozybkov prison in Russia's Bryansk region, near the Ukrainian border. He said guards targeted the American from the start. "They came during inspections and were asking: in which cell is the American? And then they used obscene words. They threatened him, they mocked him from the first days."

Ihor Shyshko, a captured Ukrainian soldier, said officers focused on Hubbard's nationality. Shyshko said Hubbard was required to learn Russian, sing the national anthem and recite prison schedule rules he could not read. He said he saw guards beat Hubbard on the legs, back and arms and shock him with a stun gun. Shyshko also said Hubbard was denied food and medical care, held in the cold, and subjected to sexual humiliation for the amusement of prison staff.

Russian soldiers captured Hubbard in April 2022 during the occupation of Izyum, the eastern Ukrainian city where he lived with his Ukrainian partner. He was accused of serving in Ukraine's armed forces, convicted at a trial in Moscow and sentenced to six years and 10 months. Khyliuk and Shyshko were held with him while he awaited trial.

Khyliuk said Hubbard's health declined while they occupied neighboring cells. He could hear Hubbard's complaints, and guards increasingly summoned him to the prison doctor. Khyliuk described broken windows and severe cold, with detainees huddling in the bathroom for warmth during time outside their cells. He said conditions at Novozybkov were worse than at the facility that followed.

The men encountered Hubbard again at Pakino, where Shyshko said his physical state deteriorated. "There was not a single spot on his knees or on his feet without rot," Shyshko said. Shyshko said he bandaged Hubbard at the medical centre after a doctor refused, describing him as weak and barely able to move. The detainees were fed porridge, bread and potatoes, Shyshko said, and faced daily beatings, forced running and stress positions. He also described a handler setting a dog on prisoners to bite them.

Khyliuk said that shortly after the transfer to Pakino, Hubbard was hidden from visiting International Red Cross staff to conceal his condition. "They saw only what was shown to them and they were happy with that," Khyliuk said. The International Committee of the Red Cross said that when granted access it asks to see every individual and assess their conditions, and that it continues to discuss the matter with the parties to the conflict.

Khyliuk said Hubbard disappeared from the prison in 2024, and he assumed he had been released. Khyliuk returned to Ukraine in August 2025 through a prisoner exchange. Comparing the treatment to the Stalin era, he said: "Russian captivity is a torture machine."

Russia released Hubbard on Oct. 23, the day US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg to discuss the war in Ukraine. Witkoff called the Russian president a "humanitarian." US President Donald Trump said he had asked Putin to free Hubbard in a phone call the prior week. Khyliuk said he was glad Hubbard was freed, adding that "it was not his war," but called the timing "shameful PR of the US president, who is losing votes in elections to Congress." Shyshko said he hopes the perpetrators will face justice: "Evil must be punished, and so it will be."

Hubbard, a retired English teacher, was held for four and a half years before his release.